


Jealous Much, Doctor?

by The_Hybrid



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, bit of thinly veiled inuedo, but only if youre deep in the fandom, kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 05:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8044924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Hybrid/pseuds/The_Hybrid
Summary: The title makes it a bit obvious, but the Doctor gets jealous.
Written for GoodDalekPepperGrinderFromDownTheRiver





	Jealous Much, Doctor?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GoodDalekPeppergrinderfromdowntheRiver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodDalekPeppergrinderfromdowntheRiver/gifts).



> Prompt from GoodDalek: "Ooooh could you perhaps do a one shot where Jack and River meet for the first time and they hit it off and the Doctor becomes a little bit jealous? i have always thought that River and jack are quite similar in terms of being flirty and that they'd have so much fun teasing the Doctor."
> 
> So, Jack+River=Jealousy 
> 
> ***NOT IN ANY OF MY SERIES. ONE-SHOT.***

River was jumping from time to time, reeking havoc where ever (and when ever) she could. Sometimes she called it research. She was attempting to get a doctorate after all. Sometimes she called it escapism. It was ever so boring in Stormcage. Sometimes she called it 'boredom relief'.  
  
She never called it what it was though. She never told anyone why she was jumping to anywhere and anytime. No, she never told anyone she was just hoping to find him. Afterall, she was River Song. River Song didn't need anyone. She never relied on anyone else, because she knew they'd always let her down. So when she started to rely on one man, to hope he'd be there where ever she was going, sometimes she wished she was Melody Pond again. Hell, she'd even settle with Melody Williams, no matter how boring the life that name brought would've been.  
  
Life was hard for the wife of the man whom everyone had forgotten about. But he'd never understand. He may have been old, and wise, but he'd never get the experience of hate and suffering she'd experienced first hand. So, when she found him, no matter what time it was, or how long it had been since she last saw him, she smiled, laughed, and hid behind a façade of flirting. She always flirted a lot. The more she flirted, the thicker the wall. The thicker the wall, the easier it was for the Doctor. 

  
  
Jack ricocheted from one time and place to another. He was running from the horrors he'd left in Wales. At Torchwood 3. Most of his team were dead. Except they weren't just his team. They were his family. He'd left Gwen a broken man, and was determined not to go back until he'd healed. Even slightly. But it was taking lolonger than he thought.  
  
Jack told himself he flirted for the women. He flirted for the men. He told himself that he needed more people. That was all. More people to fill the void in his heart. That was what was wrong. Ianto had hurt him when he died, and all he needed to do to fill that void was to flirt (and dance) with more people. Because Ianto was just a diversion. Just a quick little toy to fill the time because he knew that Ianto would die and that Jack would never age age and he'd be without him. So he never got attached. Never. Except maybe Ianto was more than just flirting. Maybe there was something more.  
  
Now, Jack knew how many different ways there was of processing grief. He'd seen people try. There was the anger route: Getting angry at anything and everything that could possibly go wrong because "I've had enough rubbish from the universe already!". There was the depressive route: Becoming permanently sad until you no logger feel anything because "That way it hurts less. Nothing can hurt if I don't care.". There was the (as Jack so eloquently called it) PTSD route: Closing yourself off so much you no longer talk to anyone or did anything and you make everyone do everything for you.  
  
Jack had tried anger in the past, and it didn't work. He found it too much hastle to act all sad and depressed all the time, and he could never close himself off. He couldn't stop himself from talking. So, Jack very commonly, like he was now, went for the "pretend it's all fine and no one will suspect a thing" approach.  He had found a very long time ago that the easiest way to hide in a group of people was to flirt with anything and everything because people just ignore you. 

  
  
Now, the Doctor, he was oblivious to his wife's inner feelings. He didn't know why she flirted so much when she was supposed to be married to him. He got jealous, he knew he did, she knew he did, but there was nothing he could do about it. He'd once asked River not to flirt, but that was met with an angry comment and a drop in her façade. A quick drop in her facial expression, showing him something he'd never seen in River, something he hoped he'd never see again. Guilt, sadness, loneliness. He never mentioned it again. 

So, when he found River in some obscure part of the universe and took her to one of the most well-known markets in the universe, he expected a little flirtation. What he didn't expect was to meet an old friend, and for his wife and former 'dance partner' (one River didn't know about. Shh. Don't tell anyone) to hit it off quite so well. But they did, and alas, so the horror started.  
  
"So, Jack is it? I've heard a lot about you in my travels. Do anyone interesting recently?" River said with a smirk. She knew that anyone walking past would just have thought they'd misheard her remark, but she knew both Jack and the Doctor picked up on it.  
  
Jack glanced at the Doctor. "Well, as a matter of fact, I met Queen Elizabeth I just a few months ago. She has some very peculiar tastes for one known as the 'Virgin Queen', but I do believe that she'd met someone who'd opened her eyes to many things."  
  
River smiled. "Oh, I know. I bet he opened a lot of other parts of her too. It's amazing how self reserved he is now. He's really changed."  
  
"Oh, that's an understatement. Doctor, I much prefered you with that suit. Or that jacket. But now, a Bow-tie? Do you ever learn?"  
  
"I happen to know that River quite likes my bowtie, than you very much." The Doctor replied indignantly.  
  
"Oh, I bet she does. Have all sorts of ideas do you River?"  
  
"Oh yes. That being said, a belt and suspenders?! How can you talk about not learning?" River laughed.  
  
"Oh, he learnt a long time ago. I suspect that's why he wears them. More ideas to give people."  
  
"Oh, yes Doctor. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"  
  
"I know I have all sorts of ideas." The Doctor glared at her. "What? You can't stop my imagination Doctor. Although I'm sure you'd like to try."  
  
The Doctor leaned over to River to wispered something in her ear. "Keep talking like that, and I'm sure I'll manage it." River wimpered,  almost inaudible to all, except the Doctor. "That being said, if you keep talking to Jack like that, I'll make sure you only have your imagination to play with for a long time." The Doctor's voice hardened at that.  
  
"Say anything interesting, Doctor?" Jack asked when it was obvious that they'd finished their little 'discussion'.  
  
"Oh, plenty, Jack," River replied. "But nothing for your ears." When the Doctor smiled, she added "I'm sure you can work some out for yourself. You never know, one of us might be kind enough to give you a demonstration."  
  
  
At that, the Doctor stormed off. He was sick of River flirting, but he could normally stand it. The person she was flirting with normally realised that he was River's other half, and would dial it down. But Jack..  
  
"Sweetie, are you okay?" River interuppted his thoughts. "You stormed off. You never do that. Not in this body and not with me. What's wrong?"  
  
"It just... doesn't matter. I'm just being silly."  
  
"No you're not. Something has upset you. What's wrong?"  
  
"It's just you were flirting with Jack and everyone likes Jack and..."  
  
"And you thought I wanted him? Sweetie, I love you. You're my husband. I'll never leave you, not for Jack, not for Amy, not for anyone, okay?"  
  
"Okay. It's just I wish you'd tell me what's wrong."  
  
"What do you mean?" River was worried now. Not just for the Doctor.  
  
"When I asked you to stop flirting a little while back, you got really sad for a moment and then got all happy again. But you wouldn't tell me what was wrong. I want to know River. You're my wife. I'm supposed to protect you from everything that upsets you. It's like you don't trust me."  
  
"I didn't think you could handle it. "  
  
"But..."  
  
"Shush. I didn't think you could handle it because you're so young. You don't get humans. You don't get relationships. You don't get me."  
  
"Oh, but I do River. I know you inside and out, and no matter how hard you've tried in the past, how hard you'll try in the future, I will always know when something is wrong. And I'll always be there to fix it."

River knew that this wasn't just something he'd say to get information. No, this was a promise, and he'd always be there to carry it out. He actually loved her, no matter if he said so or not. Because sometimes it didn't need saying.

  
"I love you River. To the end of the universe and back. And we've been."  
  
No, it didn't always need saying, but sometimes it feels so much better when it was.

**Author's Note:**

> There you are. How's that?


End file.
